From Jinja we drove to Masindi, a town in the west of Uganda. It is possible to see chimpanzees there. We camped at the Masindi Hotel, the oldest hotel of Uganda, which has a huge backyard with a campsite. On the way we stoped at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, a wildlife conservation project that started in 2001, which intends to inhabit the white rhinos, who once were extinct in Uganda due to poaching. We went on a rhino trekking, where a ranger took us very close to these animals, it was so impressive. They wheigh almost as much as our Defender but can still run up to 45km/h, can you imagine?!
After setting up our camp in the backyard of Masindi Hotel, we cooked a dinner and contacted the ranger who takes tourists into the forest to see the chimpanzees. Unfortunately, he did not have time the next day but offered to take us the day after early in the morning. We therefore had a day to relax in our hamocks and read a book. Unfortunately, Tom’s hamock was caught in the rain drain of the car and when he sat in the hamock, it ripped of. This took us many atempts and helpful hands from other people to fix but we managed in the end :)
The chimps trekking was amazing! Since they live in big groups of around 50 chimps and they tend to be very loud, it was relatively easy to track them. After only 20 minutes of strolling through the thickets rainforest, we arrived in the middle of the big group and got the chance to watch them for a while. Since these chimps were not habituated, they were not very used to humans and especially not tourists. Whenever we got a little to close, they would start throwing sticks, which was very interesting to see. We’ve nerver experienced a wild animal using a tool to defend itself. Chimps are our closest relatives and known for using tools for many different kind of things. It was amazing to watch them in the forest. We got caught by the monkey fiever and decided to watch the famous movie about Diane Fossy - Gorillas in the mist - on the campground later that night and enjoyed a nice openair movienight.
The next day we continued to the Murchison Falls National Park, where we spent 24 hours including one night of camping. We entered the park and first drove to the huge waterfall from where the national park has its name from. Since we still had some time, we decided to drive a loop through the park - however, this did not turn out to be the best track we chose. The street was very muddy, we almost got stuck once because an abandoned truck was left in the mud in the middle of the street and it was almost impossible to pass in through the huge puddle around it. And evenmore, the track was loved by Tsetse flies. As soon as we left the main road, hundreds of these flies were all over the car. After I got stung by the first one, I realized that it wasn’t normal flies and we quickly closed all the windows and hunted every single one of them that was left in the car. Unfortunately, our Defender is not the nicest vehicle when it comes to driving in the heat without being able to open the windows (yes, we do not have an A/C). It was a very hot and long drive and we barely saw any wildlife because of the thick bushes to the left and right and the road was in a bad condition, we really prayed to not get stuck, partly because we didn’t feel like digging ourselves out but mainly because we did not want to leave the car due to all the Tsetse flies. Finally, after around 2 hours, we reached the main road again and made it to the camp just before dark.
We cooked a small dinner and went to bed early, because we were both very tired, when suddenly the wind picked up like crazy and a thunderstorm was starting over our heads. The wind was very strong and I was a bit nervous regarding our rooftent, so we decided to get out of bed and close the tent and ask the lodge for a room. We went to the bar (which was still open, it was only around 9pm) and the guys working there told us that this storm wouldn’t last long) We decided to have a drink and wait it out, and after only half an hour, the storm had passed and we got to climb back into our cozy bed and spend a quiet night.
The next morning, we went for another loop in the park until we had to be out, and this time, we were very lucky. We saw a lot of wildlife, many elephants and giraffes and buffalos. A car with some rangers passed us and we stopped because they really liked our car, so we started chatting and they told us they were doing research on lions in the park. We told them that unfortunately, so far, we did not see any lions in any of the parks, so we exchanged numbers and they promised us to inform us as soon as they would see some. Shortly after, they already called us. They shared their location and we met with them again so they drove with us off the mainroad very close to a tree where three lions were chilling and taking a nap. The told us that these lions were very used to tourists and that it was ok to drive up very close and just watch them as long as we wanted to. We couldn’t believe our luck and enjoyed this special moment very much.
We headed southwards to Fort Portal but decided to spend one night at the shore of Lake Albert, the bordering lake with the DR Congo. We found a beautiful little lodge that had only 4 rooms and a very nice restaurant and pool area. They allowed us to camp in their parking and opened a room for us to use the showers. We got to relax the whole afternoon at the pool, cuddle their cute animals (a mommy-dog with 3 puppies and a cat) and enjoyed a nice dinner at the restaurant. Since we were the only guest, the guy running the place joined us for dinner and he could tell us a lot about the life in Uganda.
When we arrived in Fort Portal the next day, we first drove to the car mechanic shop, because we had to get something done at a professional shop which we couldn’t do at the workshop of the Haven Lodge. They helped us right away and while we were waiting for them to finish their work, a German couple came into the garage and we started chatting. Theo and Gudrun have lived in Fort Portal for many years and they spontaniously invited us to come stay at their place half an hour outside of town. So instead of driving to the campsite, we drove to their house and spent two lovely days with them - they even let us stay in their guesthouse! We had great talks, Theo was telling us a lot about his work for the Welthungerhilfe all over the world (he actually spent more time outside of Germany than inside), but he decided to settle in Uganda and when Gudrun met him here as a tourist, she quickly decided to join him an stay. They took us to a neiighboring luxury lodge where we spent an afternoon and we went for a little hike around their premises and for letting us stay at their house, Tom and I offered to cook a nice dinner and we had two lovely days together.
We spent two more nights in Fort Portal camping at the Kalitusi Backpackers, where we could set up our camp and another two nights at the Kluges Lodge south of town, where we met Michi & Alex, a couple from Germany in their fifties, who have been travelling through Africa since 2018. They were looking after the lodge for 2 months while the owner (a German as well) went to Germany. It was fun exchanging travel experiences with the two, we really liked our stay at Kluges a lot. The campsite also had everything we could ask for, hot showers, a covered area for cooking and a power plug close-by, definitely a place to visit in Uganda.